Trash and garbage containers of the type involving a body for reception of trash or garbage and a cooperating cover often present a problem because the cover becomes dislodged and the contents spilled. This particularly true when animals try to gain access to the contents of the container. Various proposals for temporarily locking the covers to the bodies of the containers have bee proposed and are satisfactory to some extent, but they are often difficult to manipulate, or the locking means can be readily damaged and become ineffective, or they involve some other disadvantage or drawback. For example, some covers rely solely on friction to hold them in place. A variety of problems arise as a result of this construction. If the fit is very tight it becomes difficult to put the cover in place or to remove it, and if the fit is loose it is easily dislodged, especially by animals seeking access to the container contents.
One approach to the solution of this problem has been the use of springs stretched through the handle of the cover and connected to handles on the sides of the container body. In order to be effective, however, they must be tightly drawn, but this results in the springs becoming gradually stretched and they thus eventually lose their elasticity and must be frequently replaced. Numerous other proposals for securing covers to containers used for trash or garbage have been disclosed. Orofino, U.S. Pat. No. 1,351,964, for example, shows a garbage can with a body which is provided with a pin 12 welded to it upon which is mounted a roller 20 which is received in a slot 17 in the can cover. Ciancimino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,170 shows a garbage pail and lid arrangement wherein the lid is threaded into engagement with the pail and a cable is employed to secure the lid to the pail. Martinelli, U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,582 shows a trash can wherein the container body has projecting lugs 20 which engage with slots 42 in the cover for securing the cover to the body. The Orofino garbage can is described in connection with a metal container but, primarily for economic reasons, conventional trash and garbage cans of the type discussed are made from a plastic and projecting pins and rollers extending outwardly from the sides of the can can readily be damaged and broken off unintentionally during normal use. In practice, trash and garbage cans are not infrequently roughly handled. The same considerations are true of the lugs projecting from the upper rim of the container shown by Martinelli. The Ciancimino arrangement involves a somewhat complicated construction.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a container having a body and a cover and which is of the type used for garbage and trash and which has improved means for temporarily securing and locking the cover and the body of the container to make them resistant to accidental detachment.
It is another object of this invention to provide a garbage or trash container of the character indicated which is easy to use, is resistant to damage of the body-cover locking mechanism, and is non-complicated in construction.